The Final Test
by Ken Blackwell
Summary: A centuries old murderer has been judged in the ominous town of Silent Hill has returned for a final showdown with one of its most notorious entities. Whether he succeeds is all up to fate.


Silent Hill, Illinois. 

It would be the last place I would be, considering all that had happened to me. But in a strange sense... it's almost like a second birthplace to me now. 

Like others that were drawn to this forgotten town, I was drawn here to be judged for my sins. And oh, how I sinned. 

For you see, I am over two hundred forty years old. And for two hundred twenty-two years of my immortal life I have killed thousands... men, women, children... all in a mad quest for vengeance, to avenge my murdered mother, to quell humanity of the disease called hate. 

Circumstances would arise, however, that would tame my insane urges for revenge. I would find my mother alive, waiting for me in this fog-entrenched town. She would show me the errors of my ways, all the while I would be facing my demons come to life. I would dispatch them, of course. But my real torment would begin as I would discover the Book of Lost Memories. And through the book, I would learn to manifest and manipulate the dark nightmarish reality known only as the Alternate. I would control the monsters, shift between the two planes with ease. 

But then I realized all too late that it was a ploy. For one of the old gods of Silent Hill, Samael, used my power of the Alternate against me, taking control of my body, sending my soul into a mortal frame where I had to fight my way out of the Alternate, back to normal reality. When I confronted Samael finally she committed the ultimate sin in front of my eyes. 

She murdered my mother. 

I waged war with Samael... a daunting task, considering my newfound mortality. But somehow, I had done it. I reclaimed my immortality, but I had lost my mother all over again. It was then I realized, that I had come full circle. This town can change you... for better or for worse. It all depends on how you can grasp reality... or rather, unreality. And now, I was back. Only because Xuchilbara, the red god of justice and vengeance, had willed it. 

It was time for my final test. 

I dismounted from my motorcycle and pulled off my helmet to reveal my face to the barren town, and my face was something that was very recognizable; I was born with a skeletal visage... my head was skull-like, my short ribs under my chest exposed, and spinal ridges were along my back complete with exposed shoulder blades. It was because of my appearance, stemmed from a half-demon father, that I was feared and hated so long ago in my village. And it was there that I would be driven beyond my breaking point. 

But I digress. 

I looked around the deserted town. "Xuchilbara!!" I called out. "I'm here!! Show yourself! Show me your final test!!" 

For a moment, there was no response. Then the sky shifted suddenly to night all around me. The asphalt street under me cracked and fell through rusted steel grating into the bottomlessness below. Buildings became decrepit and condemned in a matter of seconds. And the air raid-like sirens began to bellow through the air as the familiar stench of blood began to linger. 

I was now in the Alternate. And I didn't even bat an eye. 

I walked towards my motorcycle, still intact despite the shifts to reality. I hefted up over my shoulder a duffle bag full of necessities of the violent persuasion, necessities to better aid me within the Alternate, though I had no earthly (or was it unearthly now?) idea what would be waiting for me. Pulling from the bag a portable halogen flashlight, I slipped it into the left breast pocket of my jacket and switched it on. With my surroundings more illuminated now, I could see off to the side a building that wasn't there before... where the Midwich Elementary School was, no stood an arena-like structure. And at the entrance... 

"... Mother...!" I rushed forward, and sure enough, there she was. Or rather a likeness of her... she was nude, standing before me in a glass case blocking the entranceway to the arena. She gazed up at me and smiled the sweet angelic smile she always gave me. 

"He awaits you..." she said in English, which puzzled me because all she knew was her native Japanese tongue. Suddenly a sheet of glass came down, entering the case and my mother let out a startled yelp of surprise. The case separated, and before my eyes, my mother was bisected from crown to crotch as the arena entrance was opened to me. 

Very few things ever bother me anymore, my mind and soul have been thoroughly desensitized towards violence. But when it comes to horrible things happening to my mother I shy away... as I did here when I turned from the halved representation of my mother. Xuchilbara knew this would get to me and he didn't hesitate one second. 

Tentatively, I turned my head back to the entrance, trying to ignore the two halves of my mother. I failed miserably at that as my eyes involuntarily focused on her exposed organs... her lungs still breathing, the two halves of her heart still beating. And she still smiled at me though her smile was split in twain. 

"... I love you, mother..." was all I could say, as I passed through the entranceway and into the arena. And as I entered, I recognized aspects that told me clearly that I was indeed within my own Alternate; steel pagodas, six in all, framed the rust-colored arena as strips of human skin hung from randomly placed poles. Also hanging from ropes that seemed to stretch up into the sky were several female figures in various states of undress and decay, hanging by their necks in nooses... representations of my mother when she died the first time, lynched and executed by the mob back in the village. The arena's stands were filled with corpses whom I recognized... people whom I've murdered in the past. It puts things at a sobering perspective to know, that you've killed enough people to fill an arena. menagerie of monsters were guarding the exits; some of the monsters stemmed from other people's Alternates, like the Mumblers, the Closers, the Bubbleheaded Nurses, and the Pendulums, but I recognized a few creatures from _MY_ Alternate as well... 

A couple of Geishas were there.. female creatures dressed in bloodstained kimonos, gutted with their ribcages ripped open, swaying to and fro like window shutters when they moved... their intestines writhed like tentacles with minds of their own, and I remembered them well, as they would ensnare me, attempting to strangle me in their grasp. 

And the Merrykelly was there, as well... symbolic of the prostitute I killed back when I was Jack the Ripper, it was barely human anymore, more like a grotesque bloody blob-like flesh thing, pulsating and dripping with gore. My encounter with it in the past was truly nightmarish, even for me, as it grabbed me and tried to suffocate and absorb me. 

And then, he arrived in the arena, and all the monsters seemed to wait, as if fearful of his presence. I recognized him as one of the physical incarnations of Xuchilbara himself. 

"... Pyramid Head..." 

The avatar of Xuchilbara stood silently, and though I couldn't see his face under his triangular helm I could feel his stare upon me. I looked to his weapon of choice... the Great Knife... as Pyramid Head scraped it along the rusted grating floor, and I realized all too quickly what the final test was. A fight to the bitter end... and although I was immortal, the stakes were still high; looking at Pyramid Head as he stood ready, I sensed a kind of finality to the fight, and if I lost, I felt as if I would _NEVER_ leave the Alternate. Ever. 

I would not let that come to pass. 

I set my duffle bag down and unzipped it open, pulling from it two gothically-inclined sword handles; they were silver-plated, with skeletal hands as the hilts and skulls as the pommels. Gripping them tightly, I threw my arms outward, and the blades telescoped outward, locking into place and forming into twin katanas. Now readily armed, we stalked each other, measuring our intentions, waiting to see which one of us would lay in the first blow. 

My patience wearing thin, I charged towards Pyramid Head with a war cry, swinging my katanas at him, but he acted quickly, blocking my attacks with his Great Knife, then kicking me back. I rolled to my feet in time to see Xuchilbara's avatar swing his weapon at me. I jumped backward a split second too late as the Great Knife's tip slashed through my jacket and shirt, skin and flesh, destroying my flashlight in the process. I gritted my teeth in pain, but I could feel my injury already beginning to heal. My flashlight was gone, but I was prepared; I rolled to my back, pulling out a flare gun and fired several phosphorus rounds at the six steel pagodas quickly shutting my eyes to avoid getting blinded. Within seconds the arena was illuminated as if daylight had set in upon the Alternate, and my disadvantage vanished. Pyramid Head could care less as he swung the Great Knife down, and I quickly picked up my other katana to block with both. But my weapons, while forged and folded over 100 times to ensure durability and sharpness, were not strong enough to resist the Great Knife; one katana shattered while the other cracked. I quickly reached into my bag and extracted a silver-plated 9mm Beretta, jumping back as I unloaded a clip at Pyramid, all nine rounds ricocheting off of his gargantuan helm. The avatar rushed me, and before I could react, he swung the Great Knife down on top of me. A numbing pain exploded throughout my body as I felt Pyramid Head's weapon bisect me, and quickly my brain, split in half, focused towards one act. 

_Keep yourself together!_

I hugged myself tightly, keeping my body from falling apart, though I felt the two halves of my head peeling away from each other, my vision blurred and distorted, though I could make out the rust-colored shape of Pyramid Head stalking me. I felt my body knitting itself back together, enough for me to push the halves of my cranium in place, and as I did that, my vision cleared up, enough to see Pyramid Head swing the Great Knife at my mending head. Pure instinct told my body to duck and it did, jumping at Pyramid Head and thrusting a forearm straight up between his legs. Most opponents would double over in agony after that nerve strike. 

Pyramid Head merely grunted. And headbutted me. I realized then just how hard and heavy his helmet was, and it dawned upon me just how unbelievably powerful this avatar of Xuchilbara was. 

I staggered backwards, my body healed from the bisection but my head now suffering from a severe concussion, my skull, both exoskeletal and endoskeletal, cracked by Pyramid Head's attack as blood seeped into my eyes, clouding my vision. Despite my immortality, I was losing the fight. It would only take a few more well-placed attacks and I would be incapacitated, defeated, and my soul joining the lost who came to Silent Hill, who were judged and found guilty of their crimes. 

Eddie Dombrowski. 

Angela Orosco. 

Stephen Baldwin. 

Claudia Wolfe. 

Lisa Garland. 

But I would be damned... literally... if my name met theirs on the list. 

I shook my head of cobwebs as my concussion faded and I discarded my katana, pulling out twin daggers of a similar gothic make as my swords. I wiped my blood from my eyes in time to see Pyramid Head lunge at me, Great Knife outstretched. Before I knew it, more of my blood stained the already rust-hued steel grating floor under me as I was impaled, the blade rammed firmly through my abdomen. Much like what happened to that aspect the town created in judging James Sunderland... what was her name... ah, yes. Maria. 

Much like Maria, I wouldn't stay dead. I took advantage of my skewering and pushed forward, pushing the Great Knife further into my torso. Before Pyramid Head could react to my irrational course of action I let out a scream as I pushed with all the strength my legs could muster, the Great Knife going all the way _THROUGH_ me, handle and all. The avatar of Xuchilbara staggered back, perhaps out of surprise, as I leapt at him, and I drilled my daggers under Pyramid Head's helm, piercing him under his obscured chin. He fell backwards, groaning in pain as I grabbed his Great Knife, dropped when I ripped myself through it. And I lowered my head, a death's grin on my skullish face. 

"SHI NNNEEEEEEE!!!" I screamed in Japanese, and I swung the Great Knife, letting my strength and the weapon's momentum carry me as I aimed deftly for Pyramid Head's neck. I felt the familiar, satisfying sensation of sharp steel cleaving through flesh and bone, hearing the audible sound of heavy metal clanging on the fence-like floor. 

And all became white. A brightness that, strangely enough, didn't hurt my eyes. And as I found myself in the courtyard of the Midwich Elementary School, one thing passed through my mind. 

_I passed._

My wounds were already healed, my clothes already mended and devoid of blood... both a gift, perhaps, for completing the final test. In my hand still was the Great Knife. Perhaps given to me as a trophy? 

Perhaps. Didn't James keep his in the end? 

I felt a strange shift in the air around me, and a feeling told me I should depart. I gathered up the pieces of my shattered katana and the cracked katana as well, my daggers, the flare gun and destroyed flashlight, and placed them back into my duffle bag. I slipped the bag's strap over my shoulder, and hefted the Great Knife up, the flat edge of it resting on my shoulders, as I exited the school, walking towards my motorcycle, still parked off to the side. I mounted my ride, strapping my bag and the Great Knife to the back seat, and as I slipped my helmet on, something remarkable occurred. 

A man passed me. Then a woman, with her child. They seemed to be moving slowly at first, fading into reality. And after a moment, Silent Hill wasn't deserted anymore, the fog gone, the town bustling with life. I then realized that _THIS_ was the true Silent Hill... the deserted town was merely a filtered reality, in-between the normal and the Alternate. 

I merely smiled under my helmet as I started up my motorcycle and rode off, until the sign reading "You Are Leaving Silent Hill" flashed by me. 

My name is Ryokami. It is Japanese for "traveling god," named after my father. It also has another meaning... "demon god." 

I was once self-proclaimed as the Anti-Savior. That time has passed. 

Now, I am simply free. 

END.


End file.
